Much has been said of the many 'veterans' riding this year's Tour de France and this afternoon in Reims the 'Aged Brigade' demonstrated they've got the legs to go with their years of experience at the season's biggest race. Fastest of them was Alessandro Petacchi, who turned back the clock and made the 'Youth Brigade' look slow with a sprint reminiscent of his prime.

The 36-year-old from La Spezia proved that his victory in a crash-marred first stage in Brussels, when most of the peloton was held up by incidents in the final kilometre, was no stroke of luck brought on by the lack of competition in the finale. A long, hard sprint against a full compliment of fast men in the middle of the Champagne region was evidence of this.

The champagne would be flowing for Petacchi following his second stage win in this year's Tour. Amongst those other experienced hands animating the finish of stage four were Danilo Hondo, Julian Dean and Robbie McEwen, the latter jumping out of the pack with Petacchi at the 200m mark to ambush Mark Cavendish, who was swamped when lead-out man Mark Renshaw swung off in the finale.

The 'Manx Missile' lacked the speed to which fans became accustomed during last year's Tour and while his HTC-Columbia teammates pulled together well - as they usually do - in the closing kilometres of today's stage, the myriad crashes and unsettled nature of this opening week may have taken their toll on Cavendish.

It's a sign of the open nature of this year's Tour de France that the experienced riders we saw contesting the finale today are in the running for stage wins. Consequently, the result in Reims blows the doors of the points competition wide open. Whilst Thor Hushovd held onto the green jersey courtesy of ninth place in the sprint, his lead remains a slim 10 points over Petacchi and 18 on McEwen.

"I was too early in the front in the sprint. I was on the wheel of Cavendish, but Petacchi started a long sprint, and I had to start my sprint again," said Hushovd. "He was faster today, so chapeau.

"I have good legs. I think I can do what I did last year and pick up some points in the medium mountain stages. Of course I want to win the green jersey again, but first I want to win another stage. The fight to the green jersey is just starting... I have to take it day by day and try to pick up points when I can," he added.

And while some observers may be writing off Cavendish's chances of taking green in Paris, the uncertain nature of this year's Tour thus far may yet have something special in store for the British rider. He demonstrated to doubters that he's capable of coming back from adversity in a less-than-subtle manner during the Tour de Romandie in May and he could yet again prove them wrong in the coming weeks, despite finishing outside the top 10 in Reims.

But today was all about Lampre-Farnese Vini's effort in delivering Petacchi to the right place at the right time. General classification contender Damiano Cunego may have struggled at the back of the peloton over the previous three days - a trend that continued today - but Petacchi, aided by Hondo, Grega Bole and Simon Spilak, turned back the clock to 2003, when he was virtually untouchable during the Tour's first week before he abandoned after securing four stage wins.

For overnight race leader Fabian Cancellara, his run in the maillot jaune will continue tomorrow, the Saxo Bank rider remaining fairly anonymous during today's stage as the efforts of yesterday were sure to have left his legs a little dead. He wasn't alone in that department, as the likes of Hushovd, Cavendish and co. all appeared to be suffering from the effects of a bruising 213 kilometres from Wanze to Arenberg.

This was confirmed by Hushovd after the finish, explaining, "I wanted to do better, but I missed the power in the sprint today. It's the fatigue of the efforts from the past three days catching up with me, especially from yesterday.

"Also, today was our first day in the heat, and I don't do really well in the heat, so I was suffering all day."

A semblance of normality...

After the manic days of the opening week so far, today's 153.5km jaunt from Cambrai to Reims would serve as a chance for riders to lick their wounds and take a little rest amongst friends in the peloton.

That was aided by the early break which went after two kilometres, when Dmitri Champion (AG2R-La Mondiale) sparked a quintet of riders into action and formed the escape group that was allowed to get away early.

Iban Mayoz (Footon-Servetto), Nicolas Vogondy (Bbox-Bouygues Telecom), Francis De Greef (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Inaki Isasi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) joined Champion ahead of the peloton and they set about establishing a suitable lead, which in fairness was always going to be controlled by the sprinters' teams behind.

With 133km remaining in the stage the gap was 3:13, the most leash the break was given on a day that had to come down to a sprint. Keeping it in check was Kanstantin Siutsou (HTC-Columbia), who for the better part of 50km seemed to be at the front of the peloton every time the TV cameras panned over the main bunch.

With 124km remaining in the stage the gap had been reduced to 2:54 although soon after it was cut to about two minutes, and there it remained for much of the afternoon, the sprinters' teams keen to conserve their assets but even more focused on avoiding any mistakes that may cost them the opportunity of a stage win.

As the bunch approached 60km to go it was holding the break at 1:23 and a further 10km down the road that had been cut to 1:10; just three kilometres later the escape group would be in sight of the peloton, although it took 44km to actually catch the plucky quintet, which in reality never stood a chance.

Cervélo TestTeam and HTC-Columbia turned up the volume with about 35km to go, deciding it was time that the break's advantage be slashed. Lampre-Farnese Vini made its presence felt with about 13km remaining, in an attempt to get Alessandro Petacchi into position for the sprint in Reims.

Grega Bole and Danilo Hondo earned their keep for the Italian team, as did Tony Martin for HTC-Columbia, who took over from Siutsou as the American squad's workhorse at the front coming into the final 30km.

HTC-Columbia's control to no avail

With Martin having driven the pace at the front of the peloton in a mission to search-and-destroy the break, it was time for Bob Stapleton's men to do what they do best - control proceedings for their sprinter, Cavendish, as he sought his first stage win at this year's Tour.

As Erik Zabel predicted before the event, most of the sprinters' teams were content to sit back, watch and wait for HTC-Columbia to drag them to the finish line. McEwen, Hushovd, Petacchi, Ciolek... all the big names were there and it was Petacchi's teammate, Hondo, who hit out early and disrupted the yellow train approaching the flamme rouge.

While Bernhard Eisel was swamped during his turn on the front, by the time Mark Renshaw took over pacing duties the order had settled and the green jersey of Hushovd could be seen on Cav's wheel with 200m to go.

When Renshaw swung off and Cavendish was expected to spring out of the slipstream instead it was Petacchi who took his cue to take off down the left side of the road with Robbie McEwen on his wheel and Julian Dean behind the Australian with teammate Robbie Hunter waiting in the wings.

The man known as 'Ale-Jet' surged hard towards the line in the only manner he knows how and it worked to perfection, with the Italian never seriously headed and his margin of victory a comfortable half-bike length.

Despite requiring a visit to the hospital after stage two, along with teammates Farrar and Christian Vande Velde, Dean gave Ale-Jet a run for his money. "I didn't feel super, I've been around a long time and I know how to follow wheels and get in position in the sprints," said Dean. "I didn't quite have it to overcome Petacchi at the finish, but second isn't bad considering I came out of the hospital two days ago. "

A few numbers from the finish:

The top five in today's stage boasted ages of 36 (Petacchi), 34 (Dean), 23 (Boasson Hagen), 38 (McEwen) and 33 (Hunter), with the Norwegian at least a decade younger than the next youngest man in the first five over the line.